1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat structure having an air bag apparatus for countering a side impact (hereinafter referred to as a "side impact air bag apparatus"), and more particularly to a seat structure which has a side impact air bag apparatus at a side portion of a seat back facing a door.
2. Description of the Related Art
A seat structure having a side impact air bag apparatus has been conventionally known, and an example of such a seat structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 4-356246.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the seat structure disclosed in the patent publication, an air bag 94 of an air bag apparatus 92 is provided at a side of a seat back 90 such that the air bag 94 deploys toward the front of the vehicle between an unillustrated door and an occupant. Since the opening of an air bag lid 96 is restricted by unillustrated guide means, it is possible to force the air bag 94 to deploy toward the occupant.
In the conventional seat structure having a side impact air bag apparatus, since the air bag lid 96 forms a part of a side design surface 90A of the seat back 90, the air bag lid 96 must have a shape that conforms to the design surface 90A. Therefore, the air bag apparatus 92 including the air bag lid 96 must be custom designed for each vehicle model, resulting in considerably increased cost. In order to solve this problem, the air bag apparatus 92 including the air bag lid 96 may be designed to be commonly usable among various vehicle models, and a seat-shape-forming urethane or the like may be disposed on the outer side of the air bag lid 96. In this case, the urethane or the like may be manufactured for each vehicle model to have a shape corresponding to the side design surface 90A of the seat back 90. However, in this case, assembly workability becomes degraded.